Searching for roots with Pragjyotishpur LitFest

It was a unique literary confluence of author-translators, art connoisseurs, critics, budding writers, commentators on economics and history, and young people, who assembled for the Pragjyotishpur Literature Festival 2024, showcasing a series of panel discussions, special sessions with authors, workshops on creative writing and environmental protection, a multilingual poetry recitation and a few cultural programs at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati.

- NAVA THAKURIA

Organised for the second time by Sankardev Education and Research Foundation (SERF) with the theme "In Search of Roots", the three-day literature festival was a real intellectual and interactive treat for thousands of literary enthusiasts, which propagated the rich cultural heritage of the land with a noble initiative to rediscover and redefine the legends of Pragjyotishpur.

The national-level LitFest (13, 14 and 15 December) was inaugurated by Malini Goswami, former vice-chancellor of Assam Women's University, in the gracious presence of renowned economist Swaminathan Gurumurthy, Supreme Court advocate and prominent author-columnist J Sai Deepak, Jawaharlal Nehru University professor and author Anand Ranganathan, with others.

Addressing the distinguished gathering, Goswami emphasised that Pragjyotishpur LitFest should continue its voyage celebrating the rich heritage of Assamese literature, which has enriched Indian literature as a whole since time immemorial.

Highlighting the evolution of Assamese literature from ancient times to the modern era, she defined the role of literature and culture in the evolution and development of human civilisation in the far eastern part of Bharat, which was known as Pragjyotishpur and later Kamarupa before adopting the new identity in present days.

Asserting that literature and culture remain the backbone of social civilisation, she appreciated the history of literature in Pragjyotishpur as of a high standard.

The rich literature of Mohapurush Madhabdev (prime disciple of 15th-century Vaishnavite scholar and social reformer Srimanta Sankaradeva) gave the Assamese language a unique dimension, added the eminent Assamese litterateur.

Needless to mention that present-day Assam is the central part of the ancient empire named Pragjyotishpur (later known as Kamrup), where its capital was located roughly in present-day Guwahati.